GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota junior thrower Molli Detloff and junior defenseman Christian Wolanin were named UND’s top athletes of 2017-18 on Tuesday night at the annual UND Athletics Night of Champions awards banquet. The event was held at the Empire Arts Center in downtown Grand Forks.

Detloff was named the Grace Rhonemus Female Athlete of the Year for one of the most dominant one-year stretches in UND track and field history. The stretch began at the 2017 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championship, where the Elk River, Minn., native led the conference with 22 points to become the first UND student-athlete to be named Big Sky Conference MVP. She won the conference title in the discus, was the runner-up in the hammer and shot put. She then went on to place 12th nationally in the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming UND’s first Division I track and field All-American. In the classroom, she earned 2017 USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and is a multiple academic all-conference honoree.

This season, Detloff ranks sixth nationally in the hammer throw and has already qualified for the USATF Outdoor Championships. She twice broke her school record in that event during the month of April and has now broken it a total of seven times. Detloff is also the school-record-holder in the discus.

Wolanin was named UND’s Glenn “Red” Jarrett Male Athlete of the Year after becoming the first defenseman in 35 years to lead North Dakota in scoring. The Detroit native racked up 35 points in 40 games to tie for fifth nationally in scoring by a defenseman. His 12 goals were one shy of the UND single-season record for defensemen and his eight power-play goals led the nation’s defenders.

Wolanin was named to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s All-NCHC Second Team and earned national accolades from both College Hockey News and U.S. College Hockey Online. Following the season, he signed a National Hockey League contract with the Ottawa Senators and made his NHL debut.

Other finalists for Glenn “Red” Jarrett Male Athlete of the Year included Geno Crandall (basketball) and John Santiago (football).